B.C. mom offers reward in daughter's 1975 slaying

03/09/2012 09:28 EST
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Updated
05/09/2012 05:12 EDT

CBC

A B.C. mother has made an emotional appeal for someone to come forward with information on who was responsible for killing her daughter more than 36 years ago — and hopes newly donated reward money will help.

The girl, Kathryn Mary Herbert, was coming home from a friend’s house in Abbotsford, B.C., in September 1975, but she never made it.

"She loved to sing, she had a beautiful voice,” said the 11-year-old’s mother, Shari Greer, Thursday.

The girl was last seen at the corner of Townline and Marshall Road in Abbotsford. Six weeks later, her body was found in a field on the Matsqui First Nation.

A pathology report says she suffered a fractured skull and broken jaw. No one has ever been charged.

On Thursday, Greer announced at a Vancouver news conference that an anonymous donor had recently given her $10,000 for a reward.

"I was just in heaven,” said Greer. “I could not believe that anybody had this kind of kindness in their hearts. Some people out there just do care."

Investigators say there are unanswered questions that could help lead to the killer.

"Witnesses also observed a white older model American-made vehicle occupied by a lone male parked south of the intersection," said RCMP Insp. Gary Shinkaruk.

Shinkaruk said police want to know who was behind the wheel of that vehicle.

Also, some of the relationships people may have had with the killer may have changed to the extent that, “they find some moral compass or find the right reason to come forward," Shinkaruk said.

There were concerns over the decades about the police investigation into the slaying, and allegations were made that evidence had been lost.

In the 1990s, Herbert's body was exhumed and more tests were run, but they provided no answers.

Greer won't give up hope.

"It's always there, it's always present. There is no such thing as closure. Only resolution," she said.

Police are asking the public to contact them or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously with any information so they can bring a still-grieving mother some closure and close this decades-long cold case.